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If I had to start all over again, what are the handful of tools and chemicals that I
would start with?
I think this is very helpful for people because I don't think a lot of these tools are the
most exciting or the most viral niche tools or chemicals, but they are the
tools that have had the biggest impact on the quality of my work, the speed of my work,
and honestly making me enjoy detailing a lot more and as a spoiler, just because it's
one of the more recent tools that I've been discovering, a tornado or an air tool is a
perfect example and it'll be in my list, don't worry.
I think it's number four on my list, but it is one of the tools that can really take
you from dreading a nasty interior, dog hair, sand, whatever, to like, oh, it's not so bad.
It'll take me a little extra time, but like, I'll work through it, I have a method and
through that kind of mindset shift because you know what tools you have at your disposal
and what they're capable of doing, you can be more confident in your detailing.
So whether you are starting a detailing business and you're totally confused of what, like,
where you should start, or if you're kind of a home hobbyist, a DIYer, someone who's
definitely more serious than someone who's just taking their car to the local car wash,
but you're just kind of getting into this hobby, I think this list will be incredibly
helpful for you and based on my years and years of experience doing this on a whole
different level, all different levels, right?
That's where this kind of list comes from, my experience.
So I think the number one thing that I don't think it's talked enough about, mainly because
I don't think there's a good, like, direction to show people, it is kind of a back burner
project that I'm working on of like kind of coming up with a better deionized water system
that is like readily or easier to get and then also has good support with that.
That is definitely a project that I want to take on and now that I'm saying it out loud,
I should probably be more serious about it, but it is something that I'm looking at because
I think starting with deionized water is by far the biggest game changer.
I don't know why there's so much hype around pressure washers and there's a million different
videos on pressure washers and pressure washer setups or foam cannons and orifice sizes and
all that, but really the foundation in my opinion of whether you are just a home hobbyist or even
more importantly, if you're actually taking this as a full-time business, having deionized
water is my number one recommendation.
It helps, you can wash in the sun, you don't have to race the clock, you don't have to
panic about water spots, you don't have to perfectly dry every crack and crevice on the
car.
It significantly reduces stress.
It just again makes you more confident because you're not having to worry about water spots.
Are we going through a heat wave?
Do I have to wash at night?
Do I have to wash in the shade?
It just makes detailing more enjoyable and it will make your soap foam more.
It'll make your glass cleaner work better.
You won't be running out to get distilled water from the store.
You just have deionized water at your disposal.
I think deionized water is the one thing that if someone came and took away from me
today, I would be most depressed about.
In fact, someone asked me, they were here the other day picking up some product and they
asked, hey, how do you know when your tanks need to be refilled because I don't have a
meter on there or a light or anything?
I told them I can literally smell when my tanks are starting to go bad and that's how
in tune I am with my deionized water.
It is the foundation of everything.
It will make everything in your detailing life so much easier and I'm kind of convincing
myself and maybe let me know in the comments below, but maybe I should really deep dive
into this and find a manufacturer to get tanks and resin and all that and kind of create
a Jimbo's deionized water system, one I think that might make for some fun videos too.
I really do truly believe that it is the foundation of everything and I know there are some solutions
out there that you could pick up at Costco and stuff, but I've never had those.
I've always rented tanks because when I started detailing, I started the business pretty quickly
after and so I always needed like thousands of gallons of water and so these tanks at
Costco, from everything I've heard you get like, I don't know, 100 gallons or 200 gallons
out of it before you have to change the resin, but then my friend Andy, who's probably watching
thanks Andy, started talking about this recharging of the resin, which I think is a very fascinating
concept as well.
Anyway, so deionized water by far the number one, like honestly, before you even think
about a pressure washer, think about deionized water, whether you're renting tanks, buying
tanks, doing it yourself, start with deionized water and if you're interested and I'm again
kind of convincing myself here, but I think I do want to go down this rabbit hole of like
a high quality deionized water system that I could sell.
I'm obviously not going to be making the resin and making the tanks myself, but if I can
kind of aggregate a good solution, I think that might bring a lot of value because I
really do think it is just the cornerstone, the foundation that you can build everything
else off of and honestly completely eliminate a lot of the stress that comes in from detailing
based on this.
And so yeah, secondary from there is a pressure washer.
Now, if you have deionized water, you can use a garden hose.
That's why I like it and you're still going to get spot free water even with a garden
hose, but a pressure washer just makes a lot of things more efficient.
You could hook up your foam cannon to it.
You can blast things easier if you're dealing with a really nasty interior.
It just gives you a lot of flexibility.
You're going to pressure wash the mats.
You're not going to pressure wash the interior, but wheel wells, engine bays.
It just makes, again, it makes detailing more enjoyable because you can foam a car
and that's fun, but it also makes you more efficient and paired with the DI water.
It's just really a dream kind of setup.
I know there's a million videos on different pressure washers.
Pressure washers, arguably, are admittedly are not my thing.
I have an industrial unit.
I think it's about two and a half to three gallon per minute.
Electric with auto shut off.
It is a very stout industrial unit.
I came from gas pressure washers.
That's what I grew up on was a gas pressure washer.
I think it was a Honda motor.
It was a beast of a pressure washer where I could actually adjust the pressure
depending upon what I was working on.
But when I went to electric, I was not going to go to like a cartridge cube.
It just wouldn't work for me.
And so I opted.
What I was trying to find was when I pulled the trigger and I used the pressure
washer in my mind and with the feeling that I had, again, I've done this 20 years.
And so I do a lot of things by feeling, smell, stuff like that, right?
Because I've done so much of it.
I've done tens of thousands of cars over my years, right?
And so when I was going to electric pressure washers, the feeling that I wanted
to have was do I feel like I'm using a gas pressure washer, but it's electric.
And so for me, I had to step up.
I didn't care about the look of the machine.
I didn't care about how it looked on the wall or in the cabinet.
I was chasing the feeling and what that felt like.
And so I was able to find that in a commercial electric pressure washing machine.
I could adjust the pressure up and down.
And to me, it feels like a gas pressure washer, but with an electric motor.
And so I can link that below.
I'll try to find it and link it.
Be equipment, I think is where it comes from.
I believe it's an AR pump on there with an electric motor and then a auto on off
thing switch.
Again, pressure washers admittedly are not my thing.
They don't give me that excited.
Definitely not like the deionized water and definitely not like chemicals, right?
So I think there's a lot of other YouTubers and influencers that cover
pressure washers significantly.
I'm not one of those.
It's just I'm much more of a feeling guy than reading the stats on a box or even
measuring the stats.
I don't need a meter to tell me, you know, how many gallons per minute, because
that doesn't do anything for me.
I pressure wash so many cars.
It's the feeling.
I need to feel it, right?
And so, but not to discredit those guys that no pressure washers inside and out.
I'm just saying, go watch their videos.
If you're looking for a specific pressure washer, don't take my work for it.
It's not my thing, right?
Number three would be a foam cannon.
Again, I think for a long time foam was this theatrics and people thought that
I was only theatrics, which is true, unless your foam is functional.
And so when I was looking at developing a car wash soap, I wanted
something that would foam because foam is fun.
Everyone loves foam, right?
But if the foam isn't doing anything, then what's the point?
And so when I developed the super soap or I wanted it to be a very, very foamy soap,
but I also wanted it to be lubricating.
I wanted it to clean the dirt off the car, right?
So again, I talk about, I talk about functional foam and foam being functional.
What I mean by that is like the foam has to be doing something on the car.
If we're just foaming a pH neutral soap that has no cleaning ability, that is just
slick, really who cares?
Because the traditional wash methods of rinsing a car down with water and then
having a two bucket wash method.
What I realized is though you're pre rinsing the car with a steady stream of
water, you're not removing enough of the dirt and grime on the car.
So that is why we're starting to see it become more and more prevalent.
We are foaming a dry car, but if you're foaming a dry car, you want
that foam to be functional and doing something and actually cleaning the
surface of the car before you ever go in and start touching the car, right?
So that's why I think a foam cannon is so important.
And again, if you're taking this as a serious hobby or especially as a
business, you know, people say, oh, well, not everyone has a foam cannon or
what a pump sprayer worker.
Yes, of course there are.
This is just the list of things that I love, right?
Yes, you can do a foaming pump sprayer instead of a foam cannon and get similar
results, right?
You could have a foaming pump sprayer with a garden hose and deionized water and
get similar results as you would with a foam cannon and a pressure washer.
But it might not be as enjoyable.
You might work a little bit harder.
This is kind of my biggest gripe with a waterless wash or a rinse-less wash.
I think there are, there is, and there are places for a rinse-less wash.
I just don't think it's all that often, right?
I think a pressure washer is super, super important.
And honestly, I could foam a dry car, rinse it and be done.
And that could be my weekly wash routine.
I work in wax and relax there now because I like the extra gloss and protection
and slickness, but I'm going off on a tangent.
So I think foam cannons, they're super affordable.
They're no longer a luxury item.
They're super, super affordable.
There's tons and tons of options on Amazon.
There's tons and tons and options of videos of people breaking
every nook and cranny down on a foam cannon.
I am also admittedly not like a huge foam cannon connoisseur guy.
I did a cheap versus expensive video a long time ago on my YouTube channel
on a MTM foam cannon versus a cheap Amazon one.
It was like $100 versus like $13.
That $13 foam cannon lasted me literally forever.
I probably still could be buying those $13 foam cannons
and not have even reached the $100 mark.
So I know there's mid range ones.
They're kind of all over the place.
A lot of them come into the like what I call the qualities of like niceties.
Like does it have a quarter turn or full turn?
Is it a wide mouth?
Does it sit upright without falling over?
Is there brass components?
Is there all stainless components?
And those are all decisions that you can make if they matter to you or not.
Again, I don't see personally, if you're looking for my opinion,
I don't see all that big of a difference between the cheap ones
and the expensive ones other than the niceties.
So if you put a value in that of like the niceties of it,
I think that it is worth it.
If you want to support your favorite influencer with their foam cannon,
I think you have motives of you want to support them and you get a quality tool, right?
So do that.
I would I would do that over supporting some random brand on Amazon, right?
So if you have someone you like their videos, you watch them
and they have their own foam cannon, I would buy that one,
even if it's a little bit more premium because you're supporting that person
and their business. That's what I would do, right?
You're buying a quality foam cannon and supporting someone at the same time.
That's probably better than buying a cheap one
and supporting the brand that you don't really know, right?
So that's what I would do.
That's kind of my mindset over a foam cannon.
Number four is the newer one that I'm totally obsessed with.
This is the tornado or an air tool.
I'm picking up the RAG company air tool that a lot of people had mentioned.
It's kind of a reoccurring tool that came up in the comments when I asked you guys.
But I'm admitting that I was embarrassingly late to the party on these.
Obviously, a lot of people love them.
I heard a lot about them.
But when I was mobile, having a big air compressor just wasn't in my mobile
setup and then I just learned to detail without it.
Now, I didn't really resist it.
I just didn't think that I needed it.
I didn't see the value in it all the way.
And now I'm just completely obsessed.
I live by the beach at summertime, so there's tons and tons of sand in
my wife's car, my car and being able to blow through and just kind of get all
that sand up out of the fibers and into a pile in one area of the car versus
like the whole entire car has been a total game changer.
And then doing that efficiently and effectively, right?
And so from there, my family's car, tons and tons of dog hair.
And I'm actually a little allergic to dog hair.
And so being able to like literally erase months and months and even years worth
of like dog hair weaving its way through these carpet fibers and being able to
like pretty efficiently get through that has been a miracle, like a total game
changer. That's why it makes this list for me, right?
It's up there with the deionized water, the pressure washer, the foam cannon.
It's right there, right?
And so if you haven't explored air tools, you're on the fence with air tools.
Don't be embarrassed like I am.
Try it out.
I think there's a whole another opportunity for
air compressors to talk about that as well on my channel.
And so I'm kind of
kind of excited about some of the opportunities of content that I have that
I'm just like of me discovering stuff.
And so that's why even though I was embarrassed to talk about air tools
because I know they're like so common,
I just enjoy and I think what I'm best at is just talking about what's right in
front of me. And so I'm kind of excited to dive into that.
That's what I do with developing chemicals.
I just talk about what I see when we do product reviews.
I just talk about what I'm seeing, right?
And so I'm not really good at fabricating content.
I'm really good at just talking about what I'm doing, right?
So number five on the list where we at
time wise, number five on the list is just microfiber towels.
I like lower nap microfiber towels, mainly cheap towels can really lint.
I try to stay away from like the Walmart towels.
They just scratch.
They don't absorb well.
And I think premium ones can outlast these cheap ones.
Again, it goes back a lot of these tools and a lot of what I talk about.
Go back to like my foundation or my premise of like I want detailing to be
enjoyable, I want to get great results with great chemicals and have a good time
doing it. And that's where that air tool really fits in.
It takes something that could be like a total drag, like sand in a car.
And it makes it not that big of a drag, not that big of a deal, right?
And so I kind of look at microfiber towels the same way of like, you know,
cheap, linty towels, you'll get speckles down the side of your car.
And sometimes people think that's the chemical doing it.
You can just get really not great results if you're using cheap towels.
I do always have a couple packs, usually two packs of the Costco
microfiber towels sitting around because I like those for like wheels and tires,
interiors, odd jobs, glass.
A lot of times if you're looking for just streak free glass,
a brand new Costco microfiber with deionized water only in a water bottle is
your best glass cleaner to get streak free glass.
It just works so consistently. It's crazy.
So I do always have Costco microfibers on hand.
I use them to level ceramic coatings
because I have this really bad habit of only wanting to use fresh towels.
I personally, I know this is a terrible habit.
It's really bad, but I personally very, very, very rarely will reuse a towel on paint,
including washing the towel.
It's a bad habit.
I just like fresh brand new towels.
Doesn't matter what I'm using, I just like fresh brand new towels.
And so that can get expensive.
So I always keep Costco microfiber towels around, right?
Kind of got my wash method down to where I can actually use one or two towels
during the whole wash process.
But anyway, quality microfiber towels.
I have some up on the Jimbo's detailing website.
Those are kind of my favorites.
I'm looking at incorporating some more colors there because I do love those towels
so much. And if you look at the reviews, people are pretty excited about the towels
that I offer, but yeah.
And then finally, number six, a simple chemical system aligning with a brand
that can one provide consistent, awesome chemicals that are multifunctional,
that are doing the job and also a brand that I align my values with and a brand
that is there to support me.
So so often we send an email to a brand and we never hear back, right?
Or we reach out to a brand and we never hear back.
And so I want a brand, even when I was running my detailing business and picking
up products locally from a distributor, I loved that because I could go to their
facility for support.
Hey, this is the issue that I'm seeing out in the field.
What do you have for it?
Hey, this is the issue that I'm running up against.
What do you have for it?
And so that interaction is something that I always have enjoyed and it's
something that in my own product brand I'm obsessed with.
I know a lot of people will outsource their customer service,
which I think is fine, right?
Every business is at a different stage of growth.
But for me personally, one thing that I will never outsource is my customer
service and especially my email.
So if you do send me an email, Jimbo at Jimbo's detailing dot com.
That is actually me responding.
In fact, regardless of where you email in from, it's me responding.
It's also me packing orders.
So again, a brand that I can align with that has customer support is really big
for me, but also beyond that, like the chemicals that deliver on what they say
they're going to do and also a tight brand, like a tightly run brand where the
chemicals not only do what they say they're going to do, but then they have
some off-label uses and I can kind of experiment with them a little bit,
but a brand that I can understand, right?
So the goal isn't to own more chemicals.
The goal is really to own fewer chemicals that do more.
I figured that out in my mobile detailing business and people kind of were surprised
by that, but I was trying to get less and less products in my truck, not more
because I was limited on space, right?
So I needed those products to work for me.
And so that I just can't get away from that kind of mindset in my own product
brand. It's why I talk about the best glass cleaner isn't even a glass cleaner.
It's just deionized water, right?
Because not only is that true, right?
And I think every glass cleaner I'll go on the record right now, every glass
cleaner on the market is a total rip off.
Every brand that sells a glass cleaner is ripping you off for that glass cleaner.
Spray away, whatever. It's a rip off.
You don't need it.
And in fact, a lot of times it's the glass cleaner that is making the streaks
because there's too much chemical in the glass cleaner.
You just need deionized or distilled water and a brand new Costco microfiber towel.
That is, I would, I was joking with someone that I should never have said that.
And I should have just died deionized water, purple or whatever,
and sold it as glass cleaner because it would be the world's best glass cleaner,
right? And everyone would love it and there would be nothing to it, right?
It would just be I would literally just be filling up drums of deionized water,
bottling it and selling it for 10 bucks or whatever people do, right?
That's but that is not my plan.
That is, I'd rather just tell you, go buy some distilled water and do it yourself,
right? And so I'd rather focus on chemicals that actually do stuff like the
super, super tough a shell, wax and relax all dressed up, the gloss boss,
my whole product line, they actually deliver and do stuff, right?
And so, but yeah, number six, just a simple chemical system.
Obviously, it doesn't have to be my chemicals, but I could tell you for,
for me, when you buy my chemicals, you are supporting my research and development.
I'm a sole owner of my brand.
Could look up my corporate documents, right?
It's me here, me creating the content, me,
you know, developing the products and I show you guys all that, right?
I have nothing to hide on that.
And so, yeah, you're definitely supporting me, right?
And what I'm trying to build here and the mission behind all that,
but whether it's me or whoever else, your favorite influencer,
I would urge you to, you know,
support them and support their mission if you align with that, right?
And so, but finding a brand that you could do that, you can get their support,
you can get quality chemicals from them.
That is, I think, very, very important.
So, you know, when I first started detailing,
I thought becoming a better detailer meant buying more equipment, buying the extractor,
buying the latest steamer, buying the new foam cannon, buying this, buying that,
buying that, right?
And what I found out 20 years later,
I think becoming a better detailer is about buying fewer things that solve bigger
problems. So, buying less chemicals because I can do more with less.
And sometimes that's really true.
You can do more with less.
So, but those are the six top tools or whatever, at least,
yeah, the top six.
Yeah, there's a lot of other tools that I would recommend.
And we can talk about that at a later date, but those are definitely kind of my
top six that I would definitely recommend if you're just getting into
the hobby or you're starting to think about this as a as a business as well.
So, obviously, I have my own product brand, jimbosdetailing.com.
I would love to have you support the brand.
They are chemicals that are unbelievable and they come with a lifetime guarantee.
So, if at any time you're not happy with the chemical, I ask a few questions.
And I either have you keep it or send it back because my philosophy is like,
if you're not happy with it, I don't want you to have it, right?
I don't want you to ever look at a bottle on a shelf and say,
I hate that stuff, right?
And honestly, I'll just use it.
So, I usually have you send it back and I use it because I love it.
But just know that there is that guarantee and don't worry.
You're emailing me, right?
So, I take care of you.
I take care of everyone.
So, with that, thank you guys for watching.
Thank you guys for listening.
Let me know what tools I missed and maybe we'll do around two of these.
I clearly like this and can talk about it.
So, let me know what you think in the comments below.
And with that, I'll catch you guys in the next one.
Thanks for supporting the brand.
Means a ton.
Things are going great and wax and relax is shipping this week.
So, on to the next project, which may be Dionized Water.
So, with that, catch you guys in the next one.
See ya.
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